


New Friend

by KennaM



Series: Fandom Kittens [10]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kittens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 13:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6118429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KennaM/pseuds/KennaM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl and Lion meet Steven's and Connie's new friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [candyvan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/candyvan/gifts).



“Steven?” Pearl called out into the house. The temple door closed behind her and she stepped over the warp pad to enter the front room. Steven appeared from around the hallway corner moments later, smiling sheepishly. To Pearl’s surprise, Connie’s head popped up from behind the kitchen counter.

“Yes?” Steven asked. He sounded just like Rose always did, when she was trying to avoid trouble, and Pearl let out a sigh. She turned to face him and held out the waterlogged bundle.

“Is this yours?”

Steven’s eyes went wide but it was Connie who cried out, “Mister Fluffmuffins!” Connie sprang out from behind the counter and took the dripping wet kitten from Pearl’s hands. Steven was at her side in seconds with a kitchen towel.

“You found him!” Steven said. He stared up at Pearl with a look of awe while Connie wrapped the towel around the shivering thing, then turned to help her rub the water out of its fur. The kitten made a short mewling sound at their attention.

“How did it get inside the temple?” Pearl asked, setting her hands on her hips.

Both children glanced away and frowned. “He _may_ have wandered in beside Amethyst when we weren’t looking?” Steven finally said.

“We’re very sorry,” Connie said. She clutched the animal to her chest and looked up at Pearl, eyes wide. “We didn’t mean to lose track of Mister Fluffmuffins. If we’d known he was going to get inside the temple, we wouldn’t have brought him inside, I swear.”

Pearl looked down at the children skeptically. Finally she sighed and said, “Alright then.” She dropped her hands from her hips. “Why do you have this thing in the first place?”

Steven and Connie grinned at each other before answering. “We found him!” Steven said. He ran his fingers through the soaked fur of the kitten’s forehead, and if Pearl wasn’t mistaken the kitten leaned into the touch. “He was just wandering around by the boardwalk, and we thought he might fall in, so we saved him.”

“He probably wasn’t going to fall in,” Connie corrected. “But he has no collar or identification tag, and we didn’t know if he belonged to anyone. So we thought we’d watch over him for the afternoon!”

The kitten seemed perfectly content buried in the folds of the towel, nestled in Connie’s arms, but it stared up at Pearl with a look she didn’t exactly like. Pearl grimaced, and the kitten grimaced back.

“OK,” she finally said, “but keep him outside. I don’t want him accidentally wandering into the temple again.

The children actually giggled, then nodded. “OK!” they both said at the same time, then turned to run for the door.

\---

Connie released the kitten as soon as they’d moved far enough out on the beach, and plopped down beside Steven. The animal’s fur still stuck together in wet clumps but the kitten didn’t seem to mind at all. “Maybe he’s a surfer cat,” Connie told Steven, “and his masters wouldn’t let him ride the waves today, so he escaped to ride them on his own.”

Steven giggled. “Maybe he just likes to swim,” he said.

The kitten was chasing down a hermit crab, and Connie shook her head. “He’s definitely an adventurer of some kind. Maybe in his past life he was a deep-sea explorer, or a dolphin.”

“Whatever he was, he’s Mister Fluffmuffins now,” Steven said. He scooped the cat up off the sand and held him in his lap. “And Mister Fluffmuffins should leave poor Mister Hermit Crab alone.”

It was Connie’s turn to giggle. She sat and watched Steven and the kitten for a moment before speaking. “I wonder if the gems will really let you keep him. I know my parents won’t.”

“I don’t know,” Steven said. “I’ve never had a pet before.”

Lion appeared at that moment, poking his face between Steven and Connie’s shoulders. Connie jumped back, surprised that she hadn’t noticed the giant animal joining them on the beach. From the other side of the massive pink mane she could hear Steven laughing.

“Not you, Lion,” he said. “You don’t count as a pet. You take care of yourself.”

Lion made a sound Connie could only describe as a ‘hmph’, and lay down on his belly. Connie glanced over at Steven, who grinned at her and stage-whispered, “I think Mister Fluffmuffins likes Lion.”

She blinked in surprise. “What, really?” she asked. She leaned over Lion’s nose to watch as the kitten climbed up out of Steven’s lap and stood, thin and shaky, by Lion’s cheek. Lion watched with one eye as the kitten began sniffing the pink fur. Connie covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

With another ‘hmph’, Lion raised himself up onto his massive paws and yawned. Connie and Steven watched as the kitten moved closer. “I think you’re right,” Connie said.

“Lion,” Steven said, and he gestured to the kitten. “This is our new friend Mister Fluffmuffins. Mister Fluffmuffins,” Steven gestured to Lion, “this is Lion. Say hello.”

Lion abruptly turned around and stalked toward the other end of the beach. “Hey!” Steven said, and he jumped to his feet. “Don’t be like that! Our new friend is your new friend too, Lion!”

Connie reached out and tugged on the end of Steven’s sleeve. “Look,” she said, and pointed to where the kitten was already running after Lion. “I think Mister Fluffmuffins already decided they’re going to be best friends!”

“But _I’m_ Lion’s best friend” Steven said. Lion looked over his shoulder at Mister Fluffmuffins, who was too small to gain distance on the big cat, and he slowed his pace for the kitten.


End file.
